Saturday, May 7
Los Angeles, Calif.
5:00 PM
Long Beach State University
21-6,8-2Big West
0
vs
3
Hawaii
27-5,7-3Big West
1
2
3
F
Long Beach St.
22
21
20
0
Hawaii
25
25
25
3
Photo by: John Fajardo
Long Beach State Battled, but Fell to Hawaii in Straight Sets in the National Championship Match
5/7/2022 10:39:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
Alex Nikolov and Spencer Olivier were named to the NCAA All-Tournament Team
Box Score (PDF) | Postgame Quotes (PDF)
LOS ANGELES – The Long Beach State Men's Volleyball team put up a fight and battled Hawaii on Saturday night at Pauley Pavilion in the National Championship match, but ultimately dropped a 3-0 decision to the Rainbow Warriors by set scores of 22-25, 21-25, 20-25.
The Beach (21-6) hit over .300 in the match for the 20th time this season and were 19-0 when hitting higher than .300 coming into today's contest. However, the Bows (27-5) posted a .434 attack percentage and held the edge in blocking defense (8-1) as Hawaii won its second-straight National Title.
Freshman phenom and AVCA National Player of the Year, Alex Nikolov, led all scorers with 20 kills as he hit .405 in the match. Junior outside hitter Spencer Olivier had a double-double with 11 kills and 10 digs, while hitting .368. The duo were named to the All-Tournament Team for their efforts.
Sophomore setter Aidan Knipe, who directed the offense posted 33 assists to go along with three digs, and an ace.
The Beach's offense played well, but their blocking defense uncharacteristically struggled with just one block which came from Simon Torwie, who led the squad with three aces.
Torwie started the match with an ace which opened the back-and-forth first set. The game saw the conference foes battle it out through 13 ties and five lead changes. The final tie was broken when Hawaii took a 15-14 edge over the Beach which sparked a 3-0 run. LBSU called a timeout as the Beach were down 17-14. Long Beach cut the lead down to one, but Hawaii never allowed them to even things up as the Bows took the first set, 25-22.
The Beach started the second set with a quick 4-1 lead, and went up by five (9-4) forcing the Bows to call a timeout. The break in action seemed to be just what Hawaii needed to get back in the game as they went on a 5-0 run and tied the set at 10-all. The Beach and the Bows traded points until UH went up for good, taking the second set, 25-21.
Down 2-0, Long Beach State found themselves in a must-win situation and fought Hawaii through 10 ties and a pair of lead changes in the third set. With the game tied at 16-all, the Bows scored back-to-back points to go up 18-16. From that point on, Hawaii never trailed and completed the sweep with a 25-20 win to secure the Title.
Hawaii was led by Spyros Chakas who had 14 kills, while Dimitrios Mouchlias added 11. Jakob Thelle dished out 31 assists and led the Bows to a .434 attack percentage. Brett Sheward led the back row with six digs, while Guilherme Voss posted five blocks at the net.
LOS ANGELES – The Long Beach State Men's Volleyball team put up a fight and battled Hawaii on Saturday night at Pauley Pavilion in the National Championship match, but ultimately dropped a 3-0 decision to the Rainbow Warriors by set scores of 22-25, 21-25, 20-25.
The Beach (21-6) hit over .300 in the match for the 20th time this season and were 19-0 when hitting higher than .300 coming into today's contest. However, the Bows (27-5) posted a .434 attack percentage and held the edge in blocking defense (8-1) as Hawaii won its second-straight National Title.
Freshman phenom and AVCA National Player of the Year, Alex Nikolov, led all scorers with 20 kills as he hit .405 in the match. Junior outside hitter Spencer Olivier had a double-double with 11 kills and 10 digs, while hitting .368. The duo were named to the All-Tournament Team for their efforts.
Set 2 | Alex Nikolov ends the scoring drought and puts the Beach back on top 11-10 #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/cqk9e5GwFR
— Long Beach State Men's VB (@lbsumvb) May 8, 2022
Sophomore setter Aidan Knipe, who directed the offense posted 33 assists to go along with three digs, and an ace.
The Beach's offense played well, but their blocking defense uncharacteristically struggled with just one block which came from Simon Torwie, who led the squad with three aces.
ROOF!!! Big man Simon Torwie gets the solo stop! #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/PYHq0bwYTF
— Long Beach State Men's VB (@lbsumvb) May 8, 2022
Torwie started the match with an ace which opened the back-and-forth first set. The game saw the conference foes battle it out through 13 ties and five lead changes. The final tie was broken when Hawaii took a 15-14 edge over the Beach which sparked a 3-0 run. LBSU called a timeout as the Beach were down 17-14. Long Beach cut the lead down to one, but Hawaii never allowed them to even things up as the Bows took the first set, 25-22.
The Beach started the second set with a quick 4-1 lead, and went up by five (9-4) forcing the Bows to call a timeout. The break in action seemed to be just what Hawaii needed to get back in the game as they went on a 5-0 run and tied the set at 10-all. The Beach and the Bows traded points until UH went up for good, taking the second set, 25-21.
Down 2-0, Long Beach State found themselves in a must-win situation and fought Hawaii through 10 ties and a pair of lead changes in the third set. With the game tied at 16-all, the Bows scored back-to-back points to go up 18-16. From that point on, Hawaii never trailed and completed the sweep with a 25-20 win to secure the Title.
Hawaii was led by Spyros Chakas who had 14 kills, while Dimitrios Mouchlias added 11. Jakob Thelle dished out 31 assists and led the Bows to a .434 attack percentage. Brett Sheward led the back row with six digs, while Guilherme Voss posted five blocks at the net.
Team Stats
LBSU
Hawaii
Kills
41
44
Errors
17
8
Attempts
79
83
Hitting %
.304
.434
Points
47
55
Assists
40
38
Aces
5
3
Blocks
1
8
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
20
Aces
1
Blocks
0
Kills
11
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
6
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
2
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Players Mentioned
S
/ Men's VolleyballOH
/ Men's Volleyball
OH
/ Men's Volleyball
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